a 5 on 3 PP by taking a penalty, we kill off the Northern power play wwith under a minute left get the puck in deep, Hogan goes to the bench.... and we turn it over, Northern goes down and scores empty netter. 3-1 loss outshooting Northern almost 40-20.

football is a known work in progress (although we should have made a bowl game last year). Basketball wildly exceeded expectations last year and I think most rational fans realized we weren't going to be as good as last year. Hockey had a returning all-star goalie, a likely 1st team all-american defenseman (and a deep defense corps), and a bunch of touted freshman to fill in the usual Michigan scoring punch. the fact we can't put consistent offensive possessions together and that Hogan is SOFT, far exceeds any disappointment the other sports had. Hockey was "The Constant" under Red and now that's gone. It's like my friggin dog died.

No doubt this is probably the worst year for athletics this side of 1900...

Hockey is the worst though. This team returned more stuff formerly known as talent than any team for a couple of decades, and what we got for it is some of the most frustrating crap to watch.

Its honestly to the point where I wish I hadn't bought tickets this year. I know the football teams issues, and I have no problem sticking by them until they get the ball rolling again, but there is simply no excuse for the hockey team. Its like they've completely forgotten how to play hockey since last year. They botch passes, turn the puck over like a pancake, they're afraid to take a shot on a power play, and they take the WORST penalties.

As sad as Hogan's regression has been though, there is just no way I can pin this team's problems on him. Sure, he's given up a load of soft ones this year, but he's also made saves a brick wall couldn't make in order to keep his team in the game. The team just has a tendency to turn it over, take exclusively bad shots (Missing the net completely on the good ones), and do just about everything that adds up to no more than 2 goals a game. Tonight was a perfect example of this. Hogan gives up two unacceptably soft goals, we get a lucky one to bring it within one and... we can't score even on wide open nets the rest of the night.

I know these guys have got it in them. The freshmen haven't been playing too bad, and everyone else played on either last year's team or the "OMG Sauer, WTF" year. We also have some good people coming in (Minus a goalie, but I'm sure we'll have that fixed by fall). But crap, the way this team has been playing, I'm not sure if that's going to cut it. On paper, it doesn't get any better for us than it did this year, and yet we've managed to be quite possibly Red's worst team. What are you suppose to think when a lot of the team that should have won the NC one year, the majority of the team that practically had a goal quota of 5 the next year, and then can't even break 3 most nights the next?

I'd say the first goal was total garbage at the very least. The second one, well, it was pretty obviously tipped. That being said... He was in position to make the save. It just went right through the 5-hole.

I was sitting at the opposite end and apparently I had a better view of the shot than Hogan did. Unbelievable. I think a huge problem last night was the D's inability to keep the puck in the offensive zone when it comes back to them along the boards. Why so much trouble? They need to practice tip drills or learn how to hug the boards to keep the puck inside the blue line. This would definitley provide us with more offensive opportunities. And too much passing. They need to shoot quicker. It's obvious they are not the best passing team around and this only takes are chances away.